Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/335938 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (VSWG) [ISSN:] 2365-2136 [Volume:] 112 [Issue:] 3 [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 359-390
Publisher: 
Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart
Abstract: 
The persistence literature connects recent outcomes to events long ago. Although this literature is promising, it raises serious questions about how to distinguish deep causal factors that persist across time from alternative explanations derived from the rapidly changing historical context or misuse of historical sources. We discuss two prominent examples that ground the rise of the Nazi Party in distant historical events. Several econometric and historical errors undermine the papers' contention that deeply rooted culture and social capital fueled the Nazi rise. The general lesson is that beyond careful econometrics and serious consideration of underlying mechanisms, persistence studies must pay scrupulous attention to the historical context and the limitations of historical data.
Subjects: 
historical persistence
medieval pogroms
social capital
culture
Nazism
anti-semitis
JEL: 
N01
N93
N94
Z12
N33
N34
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.